This invention relates to a water purification and hot water supply apparatus, and in particular, a water distillation apparatus capable of supplying the hot water needs to the common household.
There is need for a compact apparatus capable of supplying distilled water in combination with a common household hot water heater, powered by gas, electric, or solar energy. There has long been a continuing need of relatively small quantities of purified and distilled water for household use. The need is now greatly increased. The continuing needs for steam irons, contact lens cleaning, and the like, continue in importance, but are small. Now, with the ever increasing difficulties of retaining ingestive water purity, a distilling apparatus in the home may well be a necessary appliance of the future. In certain locations of the country, distilling the water is the only practical way to make the water potable. Since hot water heaters are a nearly universal home appliance, a combination apparatus to provide a family supply of distilled water and common hot water with little or no energy cost increase is of great interest.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,712, a water purification system is described by the inventor Peter J. McLeon for use in combination with a domestic hot water heating tank. Another water purification system is described in an earlier patent to the same inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,240. A much earlier hot water system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,061,359 to D. W. Daley et al. None of these systems provide a distillation apparatus capable of continuous use, solving the problem of high concentration of contaminants and solids in the distilling pot and the use of heat energy from the system.